


Fly Me To The Stars

by Citizen_Draiochta



Series: The Wind Beneath Our Wings [3]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Comfort, Deep talk, Discussion, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Feels, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Getting to Know Each Other, Hope, Leaning on Each Other, Nightmare discussion, Nightmares, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Frisk, POV Frisk, POV Second Person, Reader Is Frisk, Sans Has Night Terrors, Wings, all monsters have wings, frisk has nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-08
Packaged: 2018-08-07 10:47:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7712002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Citizen_Draiochta/pseuds/Citizen_Draiochta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frisk wakes up from a nightmare and finds Sans outside their bedroom door for the same exact reason. They spend a night talking it out, and Sans makes good on his promise to not suffer alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fly Me To The Stars

**Author's Note:**

> I can't seem to stop writing for this universe. Of course, it seems I've fallen down into my cesspool of queerplatonic Sans and Frisk again, but what else is new? (This fic is...hahaha I'm not punny). So have another oneshot in which Frisk and Sans spend time developing their relationship through sharing their issues! It's mostly all fluff and angst; I just wanted to write the obligatory "nightmare sharing fic" in this universe.

You felt something tickle your nose. Something else brushed by the tips of your fingers. From the corner of your eye, you could see white specks drifting down from the sky. You raised your hand and inspected the flecks that had landed on your fingers and continued to rain down on your palm. Your eyes widened as you realized it was dust - monster dust. You opened your mouth, to do what, you had no idea, but suddenly the dust began to rain down faster than before and it landed inside. You spit, trying to get it out, horrified, but it clung to you, to every part of you. When you breathed, it filled your lungs, choking you. As you struggled for air in the darkness, the dust settling heavily over you like a thick blanket, you saw a face in the darkness.

It was the face of a child, one that would have been eerily similar to yours had it not been for the distortions. Their cheeks were rosy, but hollow, flushed too brightly. Their lips were full and red, almost too large, and as you watched a bright red liquid began to drip from them. Their hair was wild and tame all at once, the color of milk chocolate and highlighted with streaks of auburn. But the most terrifying aspect was their eyes, blood red and wide as they stared at you, the same red liquid dripping from them. 

The face moved closer and you could make out a body. The dust continued to rain down. You could no longer breathe, but you felt no need to as you stared at them. For you, it seemed as though time had frozen. You could not move. They wore a light green sweater with a single cream stripe across the middle. It was shaped like your own blue and purple one. Their pale legs had the liquid running down them as well. Their black combat boots were in pristine condition. And their hand held a knife.

As they drew near, you saw the dust begin to fall on them too. All of a sudden, the need for air returned to you and you instinctively gasped, drawing more air into your lungs. You struggled against the binds that seemed to hold you upright and in your place, and struggled for air. Your hand came up to your chest and  _ pushed _ , as though that would expel the dust that was now choking you. The child walked ever closer. They raised the knife and you prepared for the strike - but it never came. Instead, they lunged for something behind you, and you heard a groan that was cut off immediately. 

You spun around, suddenly able to move and watched in horror as the last piece of a skeleton disintegrated into dust, leaving behind only a thick blue jacket. A scream rose in your throat, trapped by the ever growing monster dust as you fell to your knees in the pile of dust. You looked up at the child. They spoke a single word.

“Partner.”

You awoke with a gasp, the built up scream just behind your lips, but you swallowed it and tried to calm yourself. Your hands were trembling, as were your arms and your legs and your feet and you realized you were trembling all over. You gulped in air, breath after breath filling your lungs and cleansing them from the dust you swore was still drifting around. With fumbling hands you yanked off the covers and crossed the room with shaky feet in five quick strides, nearly tripping over yourself when you reached the door. You had the irresistible urge to check on Sans, and were quite surprised to find the skeleton waiting outside, his hand raised to knock. The two of your stared at each other for a moment, and then you launched yourself at him, burying your face in his shirt as you burrowed into his jacket and wrapped your arms around him tightly, shuddering sobs wracking your body. No tears came, but your shoulders shook as you held him more tightly, reassuring yourself that he was alive. His arms came up to hold you instantly, one hand on your back and one on your head, carding through your hair. 

You refused to let him go. After minutes of standing in the same position, he seemed to understand and gently pried your arms loose, then lifted you up and settled you on his hip. He grunted a little at your weight, despite your small stature, and carried you to the bed. He sat down and placed you next to him, covering you both with the thick blanket. You curled up against him and grabbed his shirt with your hands. The dry sobs continued. His hand found your hair again, and you leaned into his touch.

When you finally let go and the shaking had ceased, you looked up at him. He offered you a weak smile.

“heya,” he greeted. “i uh, came to make good on a promise i made to you. would i be right in guessing you need the same?”

You nodded.

“ok,” he said. “who first, me or you?”

You pointed at him. He sighed.

“‘course.” It sounded somewhat resigned, but also as though he’d expected nothing else. “i’m gonna take a shot and say that you had a nightmare, yeah?”

You nodded. He continued.

“same with me,” he said. “nothing really new but this one shook me up real bad after doing a lot better recently. really rattled my bones. heh heh heh.”

You grinned weakly at his pun and cuddled a little closer. His arm was wrapped around your shoulders as you burrowed into his side.

“i just saw the little flower again. relived the whole experience. it wasn’t all that fun. i had a pretty bad time there. he was taking my wings off again. i didn’t lose them in a pretty way either. he...well. i won’t get into details, but he wasn’t clean about it. or gentle. and i haven’t had a nightmare in a coupla weeks so it just kinda hit me.”

He waited a moment. You leaned into him and said nothing, lending as much comfort as you could. He leaned a little back and tightened his arm around you.

“your turn kiddo,” he said.

You took a deep breath. He was here. He was alive.

“I was dreaming,” you said in a small voice, even quieter than your usual volume. “Dust everywhere. Monster dust. And I saw Chara again but they were outside me and they...they…”

You trailed off, not wanting to say it. Some irrational side of you told you that if you said it out loud, it would somehow be real.

“did they hurt you?” Sans asked.

There was a threatening undertone to his voice, but it didn’t seem meant for you. You realized he was angry at Chara.

“They killed you,” you whispered, the words barely audible. “And I couldn’t stop them this time; they just - like that. Gone. Dust.”

“this time?” Sans echoed. “whaddya mean, ‘this time’?”

You took another deep breath. It seemed it was also time to confess one of your deepest secrets. You weren’t upset about it though; after all, it was two months after Sans had confessed his, and you felt it was only fair. 

“Chara was the first human to fall down there,” you explained. “They were like me. In some ways. Determined. And when they died, the determination left behind an imprint on this world. Their consciousness. And when I fell, they latched onto my determination. They weren’t...weren’t very nice.”

You paused and coughed slightly, not used to saying so much at once. It was the most you’d spoken since you left the Underground.

“They always told me to FIGHT whenever there was an encounter. I didn’t listen to them. They helped me sometimes, by telling me things about the Underground and the monsters, but other times they said things...they said things about the world and they wanted to hurt it. I think...I think they were also the reason I could mess with time. They had the ability and it stayed with them when they joined me. But they’re gone now; they made their peace and moved on from the world just before we left. I got scared in the dream. I thought they came back to kill everyone like they wanted to. I was scared you’d been dusted.”

You finished in a quiet voice, and turned over, pressing your face into his jacket. Your voice felt raw and you weren’t sure you’d be able to speak again if you had to. You felt Sans’ chest rise and fall as he sighed a little and brought his other hand over to rest on your back. He turned onto his side as well to face you.

“hey. Frisk,” he said gently. “look at me.”

You complied, raising your head to gaze into his sockets. 

“i’m alive,” he told you. “i’m missing a couple parts but i’m alive. that chara, they can’t do anything to me here. understand?”

You nodded, but there was still uncertainty written on your face.

“kiddo, ‘s okay,” he said gently. “i promise they can’t hurt me.”

You responded by grabbing his hand and squeezing it tightly.

“good. now, i gotta explain some things to you,” he said.

Another sigh. His eyes dimmed for a moment, the pinpricks of light almost fading.

“you know i have shortcuts, right? well, those shortcuts are little rips in timespace. created by the resets that flowey had. and other things were created when those resets happened. other timelines.”

You must have looked confused, because he stopped for a moment.

“he always reset a little bit after he took off my wings. when that happened, when he went back in time, another timeline was created. a timeline where the world went on with me wingless and whatever he’d done in that timeline was changed. a world that was a little bit different than this one. maybe he took some other monster’s wings off too and that changed a whole bunch of things in that world.”

You were still a little confused.

“say you saw a chocolate bar at the store,” he said. “you decided to buy it. then, you ate it and got a stomach ache. because of this, toriel cooked you soup, but she burned the soup and you ended up throwing up without it. you slipped on the throw up and hurt your head.”

You made a face and he chuckled slightly.

“but when you made the choice to buy the chocolate bar, another world was created, where everything was the same, except you didn’t buy the chocolate bar and so you didn’t get sick and you didn’t need the soup and you didn’t vomit so you didn’t slip. it’s like that, but with resets and time shenanigans. get it?”

You nodded, understanding dawning on your face.

“good, because i don’t think i’d have the  _ time _ to explain it all again,” he joked. 

He winked at you and you couldn’t help the giggle that escaped you. The tension was leaving your shoulders.

“so you’re probably wondering why i’m explaining this to you. i don’t want to freak you out or scare you, but...well. in one of those other timelines...you might not have stopped this chara. and then...you know the rest. so your nightmare, it could have been a memory or an event from one of those other timelines. the two different frisks somehow connect across timelines. i don’t quite know why myself, but it seems likely.”

You felt the tension return tenfold. Tears began to prick at the corners of your eyes as you thought about it. If in another timeline you didn’t stop Chara from taking control, then that meant in another timeline your friends, your family...they were all dead. The waterworks started flowing and the sobs began. That also meant in another timeline Flowey could have taken other monsters’ wings. Other members of your family could have been left defenseless and hopeless. You began to cry in earnest, clinging to Sans’ jacket.

“woah, frisk, wait - kiddo?”

“It means you’re also dead!” you wailed into his chest. “Somewhere you’re dead! No!”

You cried and sobbed and sniffled and took shuddering, gasping breaths at the thoughts. You didn’t want to image such a world where everyone you loved was gone, or worse, hopeless, trapped in despair.

“frisk, listen,” Sans said as you sobbed into his shirt. “look, those other worlds are out there, yeah, but we can’t do anything about them and they can’t do anything about us. we’re  _ here _ , in this world, you and me and tori and alph and undyne and asgore and everybody else. we’re here, not there. everyone’s okay here.”

You shook your head. It was still a terrible thought that somewhere, everyone  _ wasn’t _ okay. It wasn’t fair to them. It wasn’t fair to anybody. Some part of you tried to calm you down.

“kid,” he said gently, but firmly. “we can't - we can't change something that we can't reach. we can't fix it, no matter how much we want to.”

You knew he made sense, that what he was saying was true, that you couldn't help those other timelines, but you still felt terrible about it.

“i know you don't like it. i’m sorry i brought all of this to you but if you have another one, it's better than you know where it's from. but you can't change those other timelines. you gotta let that go. think of it like this: at least there’s one timeline where everything worked out as best as it possibly could.”

You felt the tears slowing, having run their course. Your mind was thinking rationally again. You took deep, slow breaths to calm yourself down. Skeletal fingers ran through your hair and traced circles onto your back comfortingly. You waited until the sobs had subsided and the tears had stopped. You curled into his side, suddenly feeling exhausted. You realized just how late it was and pulled on his shirt. He looked down at you. 

“Sorry,” you murmured. “Just sad. Not fair.”

“don’t apologize,” he replied. “it is sad...but there’s always a brighter side to it. that brighter side is us. this world.”

“Story?” You asked in a scratchy voice. 

He looked surprised at the request. Then, he laughed. 

“you remind me of pap sometimes, y’know?” he said as he chuckled. “bedtime stories helped him calm down after a stressful night too.”

You smiled a little at that; it was wobbly, but genuine. Being compared to the great Papyrus was a high compliment.

“let’s see,” he began. “has anyone ever told you about what monsters are made of?”

You nodded. Asgore had told you the legend that night when you had all returned to the surface under the stars.

“some say it’s stardust,” he continued. “some say that one day, when there was little life on earth, and so much wild magic scattered throughout the world, that pieces of a star fell down here in a brilliant shower. the magic clustered around those pieces and formed us. it gave us wings in the hopes that one day, we might fly back up to the stars and return home. it gave us wings made of hope.”

His breath hitched there for a moment and you reached up with your other hand to brush his cheekbone.

“one day, the first monster fell down. at first, nobody understood why it happened. people were devastated as they carried the monster inside and laid them down. they were still alive, but they were still. strangely enough, as the monster’s state worsened, his wings grew brighter, and brighter, and brighter. when they finally dusted, it was in a beautiful burst of light. the monsters were saddened, and thought to honor them by spreading their dust outside under their favorite thing - the sky. as they watched, the dust was blown away and upwards until it reached the stars, and the next night, a new star was shining down upon them.”

You were smiling softly by the end of the story. You could see, in your mind’s eye, the stardust floating up, up, up, until it formed a new one to watch over its people.

“it’s a monster’s hope that one day, when they fall down, they’ll return to the sky,” Sans said.

He was staring at the ceiling now, a wistful look on his face.

“being underground...it meant that when someone fell down, they wouldn’t be able to fly back. we all just wanted to see the stars again.”

A surge of pride and happiness filled you as you thought on that. In more ways than one, you’d brought the monsters home.

“‘s a pretty big thing that that happened. ‘s why this timeline is so important. so good. we all get to go back one day.”

“Sans?”

“yeah kiddo?”

“When you fall down, take me with you. Fly me to the stars.”

“why?” 

“I want to go home with you. With all of you. You are my home.”

“yeah. yeah, you’re one of us. okay kid. i’ll take you up there.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Leave a comment or a kudo if you liked it, and expect a lot more for this universe! I'm also starting a series that splits off from this - same universe, but drastically different storyline. You can find it at https://archiveofourown.org/series/525859 where the first story is "To Have Faith Is To Have Wings". This is purely for exposition purposes, to introduce the universe in the other series.
> 
> A two or three shot should be uploaded in a week or so, maybe even sooner if this stream of inspiration keeps up. After that, the big story should begin.
> 
> You can find fic updates on my tumblr mercy-or-genocide.tumblr.com and feel free to message me on there. Follow me for headcanons, moodboards, ficlets, and my own fanart.


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